Jail Cell Investigation

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

16th of Zi'da, 716

Kura yawned as she walked towards the bounty board, her usual black coat having been traded for her heavy black cloak with the fur lining in deferance to the cold. She had actually managed to get some sleep since Nell found her in that alley, but she could still use more rest. Still, she needed to get out and do something. She had decided against another desk job, as she wanted something a bit more active than she was used to her. Perhaps the change would make a change in her spirit familiars treatment of her.

After a moment, she reached the bounty board and took a quick look through the list of available bounties. After a moment, her eyes alighted on one for Ciaran Langdon and she took a quick look over it. After a moment she grinned and started away from the board. A recent disappearance from a jail cell sounded right up her alley. Once she was back into the main city streets, she took out her pipe and filled it with tobacco before she used her flint and tinder to light it. After she took a few puffs from it, she let out sigh as she felt some of her tension leave her body, then snapped her fingers. "Phelan. Let's get to work." she said. Her wolf familiar appeared at her side and the two started off towards the Sky Quarter.

After a half-breaks walk, Kura found herself outside the main Rharnian prison. Pausing, she put out her pipe so as not to interfere with Phelan's nose, then headed inside the, wolf at her heels. After taking a moment to look around, she walked up to one of the guards. "Excuse me, I'm a mercenary lookin' into the disappearance of Ciaran Langdon. I specialize in trackin', I was wondering if I could have a look at his cell." she said, her Atvian accent showing in her speech.

The guard looked at her for a moment, taking in her appearance, then at the wolf beside her before looking back up. "That's an Imperial accent, isn't it? And you have the same eyes as that wolf there. You're one of Karem's Blessed?" he asked, his tone more quizzical than not. After a moment's hesitation, Kura nodded. "Heard you lot were good trackers, with those wolves of yours. I'll lead you in." he said, turning towards the cells.

"Thank ye kindly, laddie." she said, her smiling as she followed him into the prison cells.

415 words

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Kura followed the helpful guard to the cell that Ciaran Langdon had broken out of and stood to the side as he unlocked it and opened the door. "It hasn't been cleaned since, in case someone could get a clue that we missed." he said as she stepped aside for her and Phelan to enter the cell. Kura gestured Phelan into the cell and watched as he sniffed about.

"Let me know when you have a scent, Phelan." she said, before turning to the guard. "It's you good you didn't clean it up, soap would have made it harder for Phelan to pick up his scent. I take it he didn't leave any personal items behind?" she asked, her tone calm as she spoke. The guard shook his head ruefully and Kura shrugged. "Didn't expect so, but I figured I'd ask. Could be useful for tellin' Ciaran's scent from any others in the room." she said, before turning back to Phelan.

"I've got him, I think. At the very least, I have the scent that last slept on the bed." the wolf said, looking back at Kura. The Mortalborn nodded and stepped into the room. Stepping around Phelan, she walked over to the bed and triggered her Unshakable Tracker ability, seeing a glowing trail in the form of a man sleeping on the bed. Looking back up at the trail as it left the cell, a thought occurred to her.

"How did the rascal break out?" she asked as she stepped out of the cell, Phelan at her side.

The guard grimaced at the question. "With the garbage, if you can believe that, after picking the lock to his cell. Burrowed into a pile of the stuff and waited until it was carted out and dumped before he made a break for it. We dump the garbage outside the city proper though, so that's why we're almost certain he's hiding out in the dust quarter." he said, his tone a little embarrassed.

At this explanation, Kura looked down at Phelan, who shook his great shaggy head. "Won't be pleasant, but I'll still be able to follow his scent." he said, his tone confident. Kura deactivated Unshakable Tracker and turned back to the guard and smiled slightly.

"Well then, good sir, if you would be so kind as to lead us to the where you gather your garbage to be carted out, we'll be able to follow him." she said, her tone calm although she knew this would be an unpleasant task. The guard nodded and started down the corridor, Kura on his heels.

Word count: 433

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

The guard led Kura to where they were they gathered their garbage to cart it out of the city, then left her and Phelan to their work. Phelan put his nose to the ground, then immediately sneezed and gave her a reproachful look. "You know, you could have gotten a job as a hunter, help the cities supply of food up." he said in annoyance at the smell before he started down the road.

Kura just laughed and followed after her wolf, the two of them moving at a brisk walk. "You're right, I could have. But I prefer this kind of hunt to huntin' just for food. Perhaps it's because I used to be a judge, or maybe it's just because I'm an Imperial." she said as they headed down the road. The path was fairly direct and Kura was actually glad they hadn't had to rely on her powers, as she was semi-certain that they'd have had to find the exact cart used in order to follow his trail and that seemed unnecessarily complicated to Kura.

Despite the directness of the path, it took over a break for them to reach the bottom of the city and made their way out of the gates to where the city disposed of its refuse. She was less than surprised when Phelan immediately turned back towards the city, still following the trail. "What I don't get," said the wolf, "is how he got back into the city despite being a criminal."

Kura considered Phelan's question for a moment before answering. "Dependin' on when he got back into the city, they might have known he escaped yet. And durin' the middle of the day, when there's a lot of people goin' in and out, it wouldn't have been hard for him to sneak past the guards." she said, her tone thoughtful. However, the trail turned away before they reached the gates, going into the Dust Quarter. "And of course, the gates don't protect the entire city." she said as they started towards the poorest part of Rharne.

"The Dust Quarter confuses me." said Phelan as they threaded their way through the poor. "How do they protect these people if the city is attacked? Why not have them inside the walls."

Kura considered the question for a moment before replying. "Korlasir has almost tripled in size since it was built. The city keeps growin' and so the Empress orders more construction. It's expensive, though. Stone-quarries dot the northern reaches of the empire to keep up with the growth of Korlasir and Cahryst, and outside of the army, it's the most costly part of the empire's budget. Perhaps Rharne isn't wealthy enough to build another wall. Or perhaps they just don't care too." she said as she looked at the poor and destitute of the city. Phelan growled slightly, showing his disapproval of the notion that Rharne didn't care about its poor and the two went further into the Dust Quarter.

Word Count: 497

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Kura and Phelan wove their way through the tenants of the Dust Quarter, the wolf following the scent trail. Every so often, he would pause and sniff about for a bit before setting off again. When Kura asked what was causing these pauses, he explained that their prey had crossed over the same places several times and he had cast about for the freshest scent before going off again, a trick that would hopefully save them a great deal of time.

After roughly a break spent following scents in the Dust Quarter, the wolf stopped and growled heavily at a filthy, disheveled, shifty looking fellow who looked apprehensively at the wolfs massive teeth. He opened his mouth to speak, but Kura cut him off. "Ciaran Langdon! You are wanted on charges of theft, assault, and breakin' out of prison. Yield and you will not be harmed!" she barked, her tone making it clear she had no doubts as to his identity. The man swore and threw a basket at Phelan and dodged left.

"You won't take me back, mercenary wench!" he shouted in defiance as he fled.

Kura growled in irritation and started after him. "Phelan, circle around and cut him off." she snapped. The black wolf nodded and loped off into the Dust Quarter as Kura ran after Ciaran. Fortunately, tricky as he was, Ciaran wasn't very fast and she threw herself at his legs. The two of them fell to the ground and Kura moved to restrain him. However, Ciaran was more skilled at this sort of fighting than she was and he turned with a snarl to knee her in the ribs.

Kura ignored the pain and moved to grip his arm, but he shook her off and hit her with a right hook to the jaw. Kura grunted in pain and her hold on him loosened. Ciaran took the chance to knee her in the ribs again, causing the Mortalborn to let out a second grunt of pain and let her grip slip completely. Ciaran stood up and moved to kick her in the ribs again, but let out a cry of fear and pain before falling back to the ground. There was a horrific tearing sound, accompanied by a savage, if muffled, growling and Kura looked up to see Phelan with his teeth sunk deep into Ciaran's leg, shaking his head back and forth as if he intended to tear the appendage off.

Kura stood up and kicked Ciaran hard in the side of the head while he was distracted, wishing she had brought her bow, peace bonded though it was. The man let out a cry of pain as the kick connected and turned to look at her, then back at Phelan as the wolf used his distraction to leap forward, landing hard on Ciaran's chest and putting those massive, blood covered fangs within an inch of Ciaran's face. At that sight, all the resistance went out of the criminal and he was meek as Kura hauled him to his feet.

He complained furiously of her treatment of him as she made him walk towards the gates of the city, but every time he looked like he was about to make a break for it, Phelan growled and he fell silent for a bit. When the reached the gates, she handed him over to the guards with a sigh of relief. "Caught your runner. Might want to have his leg seen too, before it gets infected. 'Course, if it does get infected, you can cut off. That'll make it harder for him to run." she said, her tone annoyed as she massaged her jaw where he had hit her.

The guard grinned slightly. "Come with us up to the citadel and we'll see you get your bounty, ma'am." he said. Kura nodded and she followed the now manacled Ciaran and the guard, Phelan at her heels with his tail wagging furiously. "In your name, mother." she said quietly, devoting her successful hunt to Karem.


Word Count: 657

[Pegasus]

Kura

Points!:

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: NA(solo thread)
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:

Ciaran Langdon: Bounty
Ciaran Langdon: Escaped with the garbage
Combat: Unarmed (Wrestling): The tackle
Endurance: Ignoring pain during combat is made easier by adrenaline
Investigation: Check all possibilities in questioning, no matter how unlikely
Investigation: Use all available resources
Investigation: Keeping your witness calm and on your side.
Investigation: Keeping it simple
Investigation: When there are multiple scents, pick the most recent.
Location: Rharne Prison
Location: Ciaran Langdon's Cell
Tactics: Protection is easier inside city walls
Tactics: City defence can be a matter of cost and profit

Loot:

+50gn bounty

Fame:

+5 (good deed, merciful, timely delivery)

Magic:

These points may NOT be used for arcana

Devotion::

+1 (prayer to Karem), +5 (hunt an evil being)

Overview:

General comments. Every thread of Kura's is a pleasure to read! I can hear her voice and I love her deep accent as I read. She's a fab and interesting pc and I really do enjoy reviewing her threads. Great stuff!
Story All good! A rousing tale of good guy wins over smelly bad guy!
Structure All good


Please do PM me if you've got any questions